Extra Salt is in talks to sign North American AWPer Paytyn “junior” Johnson from FURIA, according to a report by Dust2.us.
The news comes two weeks after 1pv.fr reported that current Extra Salt AWPer Josh “oSee” Ohm was being targeted by Team Liquid. Dust2.us claimed that junior would take oSee’s place in the active lineup should Extra Salt reach an agreement with FURIA.
Junior rose as one of the most prominent players in North America in 2020 when he was playing under Alan “Shakezullah” Hardeman in Triumph, which earned him a transfer to FURIA, who had parted ways with Henrique “HEN1” Teles.
The move, though, didn’t pan out, and junior has been on FURIA’s bench since June following middling results and average individual performances on his part. He’s not inactive, though, as the Brazilian organization agreed to loan him to Bad News Bears in August, where he reunited with his former Triumph teammates Shakezullah and Gabe “Spongey” Greiner.
Together with Bad News Bears, junior has recovered his form from the Triumph days and averaged a 1.29 rating in the last three months, according to HLTV’s statistics. If oSee really departs to Liquid, there’s probably no one better suited than junior to replace him, for they are the two best young snipers in North America.
This, however, may not be the only roster change in Extra Salt’s camp. The organization is evaluating its lineup for 2022 and additional changes are not out of the question, according to Dust2.us.
Extra Salt currently consists of oSee, Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, Justin “FaNg” Coakley, Edgar “MarKE” Maldonado, Ricky “floppy” Kemery, and Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek, who’s been benched since October.
